


Tim's longest con

by James_Remus_Regulus_Black



Category: Batman - Fandom, Red Robin - Fandom
Genre: Lazarus Pits, Mental insititution, Tim-centric, long con, poor Tim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-07-17 11:30:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16094792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/James_Remus_Regulus_Black/pseuds/James_Remus_Regulus_Black
Summary: Tim has always known that Ra's was the one villain Bruce never managed to imprison; the one bad guy that never tasted Justice.But how can Tim help Batman when his parents, having finally discovered Tim's favorite hobby, call him insane and send him away?Disclaimer: I don't own the characters





	1. Chapter 1

Tim grew interested in the villains side of the conflict when he was ten. 

By that time, he was the undisputed expert in all things to do with vigilantism. His teachers knew it, his classmates knew it. Even his parents, who on the rare occasion of being in the same continent as their son, got the privilege of listening to his craziest theories such as: Kryptonian biology, Wonder Woman's lasso of truth and how exactly batarangs are created.

He has, after all, created power points on all of these topics.

The only vigilante bit of knowledge he hasn't shared with anybody was the secret identities of all who were involved. And he wasn't going to tell anyone, ever.

It was just his luck that Mrs Max managed to find his collection of photographs of the dynamic duo the morning after the Wayne gala, when he was so tired he slept until noon, giving his curious house keeper plenty of time to find the stash he forgot to hide the night before in his excitement.

Janet almost fainted. But Jack focused on something he thought was much worse than following your hero at night in Gotham: pictures of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. Pictures obviously taken from places no one should have even been able to reach!


	2. Chapter 2

Wayne gala, night before the reveal

Tim both loved and hated going to galas. On one hand, he got to spend a few minutes with his parents before they sent him away to play with the children. On the other, the children.

"Dad bought me a Maserati, he takes every weekend of to teach me how to drive it." Tim hummed, taking note of this while only paying half of the necessary attention as someone else pipes in with a car story - a topic he can't talk about yet. Well, he could mention how cool the batmobile looks up close but he doubted they'd believe him so...

His eyes drifted away to look over the guests. There, next to Oliver Queen's ward who stood out naturally, was Dick Grayson, grinning and gesturing wildly about something. Tim wondered how come Robin and Speedy still remained friends when they constantly argue about the littlest of things.  
He spotter Barbara Gordon making her way to them and averted his eyes. He knew he had to be careful around her, because while other people might forget a face they glanced at once, he knew batgirl had eidetic memory and therefore tried to stay away from the batfamy whenever she was present, just in case.

On the other end of the ball room was Bruce Wayne, somehow smiling even wider than Robin as he flirted with multiple surrounding women at once. Someone was deliberately making his way towards him, someone he'd seen on the private files of Green Arrow, which are way easier to hack than those from the batcomputer (not that he stopped trying).

It was Ra's Al Ghul, the immortal eco-terrorist who's daughter is in love with Batman. Tim separated from the teenagers, who moved on to the topic of parties and how much money they spend to organize one. He leaned on one of the columns and took out his phone, pretending to text someone when in reality he was taking notes on the conversation.

"Mr. Wayne, I dare say this gala if yours is quite...quaint." A few groups around them stopped their small talk and turned to face the Wayne vs Al Ghul match.

"Oh? Well I was hoping to bring a coat atmosphere in here. Were you expecting thousands and thousands of diplomats you wanted to convert to your way of thinking? I do apologize if anything I said might have made you think that, it was unintentional." Tim smirked and glanced up to see how Ra's would respond to the giggles spreading around him.

"Oh, no, nothing quite that glamorous. I would never expect you to be able to come to such an event, much less to host one yourself. Although this is much smaller than what I thought your tastes were, Mr. Wayne. How's the revenue?"

Tim snorted and saw Ra's eyes swivel towards the noise so he glanced back down to the phone, pretending that whatever he found that was so funny was on the screen. 

Before Bruce could reply, everyone turned to the window in oohs and aahs - the batsignal was up.

And when they turned back, Bruce was gone.


	3. Meeting Mr. Ra's

Tim followed Bruce with his eyes, not staring with awe at the batsignal like the other guests (God know he has enough photos of that thing. Why doesn't the Comissioner just get Batman's number and be done with it. Honestly.)

There was one more person who had eyes for Bruce and Bruce only - Ra's Al Ghul. Tim assumed Dick was convincing his other superhero friends to stay here while Batman and Robin deal with the problem. It probably won't go very well and Batman will be stuck with five kids trying to sneakily help the Dynamic Duo. Tim is almost sure of this because it happened before. Multiple times.

Anyway, Tim saw Ra's making his way towards the door where Bruce holed himself up to change (it only takes about a minute now. He heard the bat members have a competition as to who takes the least amount of time to get changed. (Barbara won - 45 seconds)). Bu it was enough and Tim knew what Ra's was going to do - just mess with him and slow him down from responding to the signal. Which, all in all might not be the worst thing anyone's ever done, but there could be lives at stake and Tim couldn't imagine just watching Ra's waste Batman's time like that. So he did the unthinkable. He interfered. 

The thought of actually helping Batman has been rolling around his mind for months now. He had a detailed plan of everything he would do without Bruce ever noticing, and this is how he would begin.

"Mr. Al Ghul! What a great response that was." 

"Yes, yes, thank you child." Ra's tried to pass around Tim, but he was persistent and slid into his way.

"Oh, couldn't you spare a minute to speak to the youngsters? I am so interested in your PR technique. I can't quite deduce what it is. I don't see advertisements anywhere and frankly, I have no idea what your company even is. Would you mind enlightening me?" It looked as if he sparked his interest somewhat, because Ra's paused. Almost pushing Tim onto the door behind which Batman was hiding.

"How old are you, child?" Hook, line, and sinker.

"Ten!" Tim grinned widely at him. "I'm almost eleven!"

"Your vocabulary is impressive for a ten year old from here."

"Thank you very much, sir! It means a lot coming from you." 

Then, his parents appeared. Which was a shock because Tim honestly forgot they were even here. 

"Timothy, what did we tell you about bothering other guests?" His mother asked, nervously glancing at Ra's. The adults thought he had no idea who he was annoying this entire time. 

"But the kids are so boring. My daddy did this, my mommy did that. It's like they don't ever do anything."

"Come now, Timmy. I'm sure you can find yourself a friend around here somewhere. What about that Dickie Grayson, eh? Nice kid."

"He's so old. And he already went upstairs with his girlfriend anyway." Tim grimaced for show.

His mom blushed, continuing to send glances at Ra's, who hasn't moved.

"Why don't we talk about this on the way home, Timothy." She tried to gently steer him away.

"No! Mr. Wayne asked me to guard the door - he's there with a lady." Tim added a giggle there, seeing without turning his head that Ra's tensed.

"Well that was very improper of him, and you don't have to do that. Come on, Timothy. We're going home."

 

He started yawning in the car. But the time they got home, he was rubbing his eyes so his parents sent him straight to bed.  
Tim pulled out his photo binder and flipped through all the photos again. It was practically a daily tradition, and futile as he had already memorized each and every date and event of each photograph. 

Why not do it one more time? One last time won't hurt. 

So he geared up, put some pillows under the covers and climbed onto the roof, from where he jumped onto the next one and so on until he found his target.

 

The light was on in his room when he returned.


	4. Rumour has it...

"Aren't you going to admit him to the hospital? He was stalking Bruce Wayne!"

"From our tests, Tim's mental health is not at enough risk to place him under our constant watch. He needs a therapist but-"

"He's insane! He think Wayne is Batman!"

"But he is! Why won't you listen to me?" The doctor sighed.

"Placing Tim in our hospital might do him more harm than good. He needs to make friends with children his age, lack of socializing is part of the problem after all. He also needs consistency, and you two to be supportive of him the entire time."

"We just can't provide that kind of environment." Tim rolled his eyes in his head. Sure they can't. "Our next trip is in a week! And we have a really spontaneous schedule so-"

"Your child is more important than a vacation, Mrs Drake."

"It would be better this way- he would receive the necessary consistency from the timetable that you will set up, and he could socialize with kids just like him."

 

They left him there. Thankfully, Tim thought ahead and already had his backpack with all necessaties on him when they left this morning. Now, he just had to get the word out.

"Hi, are you my roommate? My name's Tim Drake and I'm here because I think Batman is Bruce Wayne. What about you?"

 

-

"Mr. Al Ghul, we have news from the States concerning the Batman."


	5. You have a visitor

"And you are?"

"Anthony Drake, madam, Timothy's uncle."

"Oh! I wasn't expecting any of his family members today."

"I was in the city and thought to visit him. Unfortunately, his parents never quite explained the problem..."

"Well, quite frankly we're baffled. Tim thinks that he must know everything there is to know and grows distressed when he can't understand something. His IQ is dangerously high, approaching insanity according to some doctors here. We have him SAT's last week, to see how he would react to being questioned on subjects he hasn't studied yet. But he passed them with flying colours. Except literature; that failure threw him into a self-loathing panic!"

"Jack mentioned something about Bruce Wayne?"

"We think that Tim heard somewhere that the identity of the Batman remains a mystery, and when he couldn't solve it, he decided it was Bruce Wayne. We are still trying to figure out his train of thought, or really and semblance of logic behind it. And since there is no confirmation to the contrary, Tim has convinced himself that it's true. 

Also, before seeing him, I feel I should warn you - he hasn't been sleeping. He thinks every moment he doesn't spend learning is a moment wasted. We tried giving him sleeping pills, of course, but it's as though he's immune!"

She lead him into a rather spacious room, filled to the brim with textbooks. Multiple engineering books were opened at once and Timothy was curled up with one with his back turned to them as his I-pod blasted Stromae. 

"We recommend calling him by his nicknames to remind him he is a child and there is no rush... Timmy, your uncle is here to see you."

Tim turned sharply and gained as he jumped up and ran towards Ra's, hugging him.

"I can't believe you came! Took you long enough!" The woman smiled, this was the most excited she's seen Tim since he was brought here. She left them to remeniss.

"You know why I'm here, Timothy?"

"Because you're wandering how could a ten year old untrained child have discovered Bruce Wayne's greatest secret? I mean, it's just a guess."

"I'm sure you're dying to tell me."

"I've kept this secret for over a year, I can keep it longer if my companion isn't interested." Tim smirked at Ra's flabbergasted look.

"Well, how am I supposed to show my interest, oh great one?" Ra's asked dryly, earning Tim's snort.

"Ask." Ra's raised a brow. "Come on,  
It's not that hard." 

"Fine then, child. How did you learn of Batman's identity?"

"It was so obvious! There's only one boy in the world who can do the quadrupole flip - Dick Grayson! When I saw Robin do the same flip, it wasn't hard to put two and two together."

"Hmm. And how come you haven't explained this to anyone?"

"I don't want to actually break his cover. I just wanted to find out who else knows - the only adversary of the Batman to approach me is you." Tim lied through his teeth, not that Ra's seemed to notice. If there was one thing Tim was better at than figuring things out, it's lying."

"And you were planning on being mysteriously cured as soon as you've found out everyone who knows?"

"Exactly. You're really smart, mr. Ra's"

"Just Ra's will do, child." Tim's eyes widened, he expected addressing him as anything other than mr. Al Ghul would get him a reprimand at least.

"How about a bet, Timothy?"

"I don't gamble."

"I promise, neither of us will loose in this situation." Tim narrowed his eyes. "If you can continue your charade, fool all of these esteemed doctors for over a year, I'll bring you with me to Nanda Perbat and offer the same training as I offered Bruce Wayne."

"You want to see how long I can go on undercover?"

"Correct. What do you say?" Considering that this was exactly what Tim had planned, he of course said yes.


	6. Robin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1 year later. Jason is Robin now, and he gets an undercover mission.

1 year later.

Jason boggled at his reflection some more. When he accepted this undercover mission no one told him he was going to have to dye his hair blonde. He looked ridiculous!

"So you are Peter? Welcome to our facility. We look forward to helping you." Jason hummed as Dick, undercover as his blonde older brother (from New York) handed him over.

"Please take care of him. And hey, Pete, I'll visit you as soon as I can, ok? Don't you worry." He bopped his nose before leaving. 

"Follow me, Peter, I'll show you to your new room. One of the other children is close to being fully healed, but he hasn't been very social, even bough he's been here a full year now. We were wondering whether you could pull him out of his shell?" 

Jason almost snorted. This doctor was transparent (Bruce decided he was being admitted for having a hero syndrome, so now they give him a victim to save.) 

"Timmy? Open the door please, someone is here to meet you." Soon, he heard the footsteps approaching the door before it opened and a boy who was a foot shorter than him came out.

"Timmy, this is Pe-"

"Uncle Tony!" Tim pushed Jason away to run to... Ra's Al Ghul?!

Jason stared with wide eyes as Ra's picked the boy up and settled him on his hip.

"I'm hoping you don't mind, doctor. I came to visit my favorite nephew."

"Of course not, I was just introducing him to Peter, his new roommate." At this, the boy suddenly found him interesting enough to look at.

Time skip

After Jason put away his clothes, and Tim still wasn't back from his talk with his 'uncle', Jason decided to do some research.

Tim had a loooot of books. Textbooks, language books... Agatha Christie and The Davinci code being the only pieces of literature he could see. With a little it more of.... research... he found a computer under Tim's mattress. And a phone. Both of which had the Al Ghul star engraved. Technology wasn't allowed here, other than an I-pod with an approved playlist. Jason snuck a phone in too, and he would tell Bruce about Ra's. As soon as he found out more about Timmy, of course.


	7. Robin part2

"You're the new guy?" A blonde guy asked him as soon as he got into the common room.

"Yeah, I'm Peter. You?"

"Call me Ed. You're the guy that's rooming with Tim, right?"

"Yeah. Is that a bad thing?"

"Well, I was his first roommate. It's impossible to live with him, no wonder his parents left him here. He's had, what, ten, twelve roommates by now? Personally, I think he's doing it on purpose cause he likes having he room to himself." Then, he suddenly clammed up and looked away.

"What did he do that was so bad?"

The boy turned back to him, and then started rambling.

"He would never turn off the light. I don't know how, but he never got caught either. He never sleeps and always, always mumbled something. Sometimes, about me! And, and he knows everything-"

"Everything?"

"About everyone here. He takes one look at someone, and he just knows! It's just- I can't- he takes pictures, but you don't know until it's too late. They are beautiful pictures, but I was asleep! Sometimes, when he did sleep, he made so much sound anyway that it didn't even matter!"

"What do you mean?"

"He'd move around and sometimes he's talking in his sleep. A couple of times, he woke up screaming! Scared the crap out of me." Jason was starting to wonder why they wouldn't give the poor guy his own room.

"What about his uncle? Does he come here often?"

"More often than his parents. He always brings comfort food and books and anything Tim asks for." Ed spat bitterly. "He never shares or lets anyone borrow anything. And he gets to go out every few months or so! Which is just not fair. We should get field trips too! Why does he get to go to Paris? He's just as crazy as the rest of us!" Paris? Ra's does have a base in Paris, if Jason is remembering correctly.

Before he could question Ed, or any of the obviously listening boys around them, Tim came back with a giant grin on his face and a huge cardboard box.

"Come with me, Pete, I haven't fully introduced myself. Let's go back to our room. And hey, if you're a nice boy, I might share some of these sweets with you." A couple of boys scowled at him as he walked by, someone even suck out a foot to trip him up but Tim just stepped over it, despite being unable to see it due to the enormous box he was holding.

Naturally, Jason followed.


	8. The target

"One last thing." Ed whispered as he grasped Jason's sleeve. "He thinks Bruce Wayne is the Batman."

"He told you that?"

"He told everyone."

1 minute later

Jason stared at Tim, who was unpacking all his stuff from Ra's.

"I assume you already found all the evidence you need."

"What?"

"Oh, please, Jason. You're not fooling anyone. Bruce sent you here for me didn't he? Honestly, what a worrywart. I thought the matter was settled. What are you doing here?"

"Didn't uncle Ra's tell you?"

"He told me to figure it out. You were obviously shocked to see me and Ra's earlier. So either Bruce didn't tell you why you're here, doing one of those hardcore problem, or you're here for the pervert problem."

At that precise moment, Jason's phone buzzed. 

"I assume you already met Tim, Jason."

"Bruce you son of a-"

"Jason!"

"You could have warned me!"

Tim chuckled as he took out even more textbooks out of the box, before taking out the pages with instructions hidden in between.

"How are you, Tim?"

"Grand, Brucie. You can take your bird back, by the way. I'm dealing with the pervert." He took out a dagger hidden in the tower of candy and nutrition bars.

"You're not blonde."

"True, blondes are 90% more likely to be picked out by him than others. But I'm told I'm exceptionally pretty." Tim batted his eyes at Jason with a smirk. "What do you think, Jase?" He whispered.

"Jason will take care of it, do not interfere!"

"Sorry, I don't follow your orders, B."

"Would someone explain to me why we're all chummy with Ra's Al Ghul's nephew slash grandson?"

Tim sighed. "I'm not related to Ra's. He's my... mentor, you could say."

"Got a lot to teach, does he? How many way could you kill me right now?"

"57 if you stay seated like that." It was Bruce's turn to sigh.

"Do not come close to the target! He will see Justice."

"Our definitions of the word are quite different, I thought I explained that to you last time, B? You know as well as I that all the scum should be eliminated to make room for everyone else."

 

Tim was relieved. Ra's didn't want him to kill anyone yet, but he did want Bruce to think he was about to do it. Observe Jason taking out a criminal undercover and write up a character profile sheet on him later. Then, he would escape the facility right under Batman's nose and make his way to Nanda Parbat, the location of which Ra's had yet to tell him. 

"Why not make this fun though? Up for a little competition, Jason? Who gets to the guy first? You win, I'll tell you some stuff about you that you don't even know yet. I win, and... you give me a ride in the batmobile." 

Bruce immediately protested, but Jason hang up on him and hid the phone.

"Deal." Tim smirked.

"Excellent. You don't mind if I act like this, do you? It's hard to pretend to read all the time."

"How long have you been undercover?"

"Oh, about a year now, I think. Batman confronted me about it a week in or something. He's the only one, other than Ra's and you, of course, who knows why I'm here."

"Why /are/ you here?"

"Doesn't Bruce tell you anything? Did he at least tell you who the target is?"

"Charles Jones, the physics teacher. Likes blonde boys a bit too much."

"That's it?"

"I don't need to know more than that to know he belongs in prison."

"One would think Bruce warned you - he's been to prison before. And that's not his real name. He's hiding here from Black Mask. Charlie here was quite the weapons smuggler, until he decided to save up some money and give our favorite drug lord near empty crates and faulty guns. He thought he could take care of himself, and there's a reason. He's very proficient in hand to hand, and I'm not even mentioning his marksmanship. But he is outnumbered so he's hiding out here for a bit."

"Why are you telling me this? Aren't we competing?"

"I believe in a fair fight."


End file.
